Alison Brooks – Dezeenhttps://www.dezeen.com
architecture and design magazineSat, 10 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1Alison Brooks creates giant smile using cross-laminated tulipwoodhttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/16/alison-brooks-architects-the-smile-cross-laminated-tulipwood-london-design-festival-2016/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/16/alison-brooks-architects-the-smile-cross-laminated-tulipwood-london-design-festival-2016/#commentsFri, 16 Sep 2016 10:37:34 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=973830London Design Festival 2016: architect Alison Brooks has pushed the limits of cross-laminated timber with The Smile, an inhabitable "mega-tube" with both of its ends raised up into the air (+ slideshow). Brooks teamed up with engineering firm Arup and the American Hardwood Export Council to create the 34-metre-long structure, which they describe as the "first project in the

Brooks teamed up with engineering firm Arup and the American Hardwood Export Council to create the 34-metre-long structure, which they describe as the "first project in the world to use large hardwood CLT panels".

CLT is commonly created using softwood, often spruce, but The Smile pioneers the use of cross-laminated tulipwood, a fast-growing North American hardwood that offers greater strength and a more attractive finish.

"I wanted to create something that uses tulipwood CLT in its largest format possible, which is 4.5- by 20-metre plates, and to express the additional strength CLT can offer when it's made of hardwood," said Brooks.

"By making this CLT 'tube' into the shape of an arc at a huge scale, the plates form a dynamic, sensory space to inhabit," she continued. "The result is a building that cantilevers from a single point in the centre."

The wooden structure is located at the Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art in southwest London, where it will be on show until 12 October 2016. The festival officially concludes 25 September 2016.

Visitors are invited to enter the arced structure through a door positioned halfway its length. Inside, they are can walk up in either direction towards viewing balconies in the two raised ends.

"The Smile's form implies that it will rock," said Brooks. "So the form itself is an invitation to test whether the pavilion moves, and how it feels to walk in on a curved floor."

The architect describes the experience of entering as "something like our archetypal image of Noah's Ark".

"The door light spilling from the ends of the arc will invite you to walk up the slope of the curve to balconies at either end, rather like looking out from the rail of a ship," she added.

But according to Arup engineer Andrew Lawrence, The Smile is much more advanced structurally.

"The Smile is the most complex CLT structure that has ever been built," he said.

"Not only does it have a double cantilever, but the entrance door is placed right at the centre where the stresses are highest. You're effectively looking at two 15-metre cantilevers," he continued.

"If you turned the structure vertically and added the weight of 60 visitors at one end, it's equivalent to the core stabilising a five-storey building. Nobody has ever built a core that slender in timber."

The structure is designed to resist approximately 10 tonnes of wind loading. It is screwed to a large wooden box that is filled with 20 tonnes of steel weights to stop it tipping over.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/16/alison-brooks-architects-the-smile-cross-laminated-tulipwood-london-design-festival-2016/feed/7"The streets become big party rooms" - Alison Brooks on Newhall Behttps://www.dezeen.com/2013/07/28/movie-be-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/
https://www.dezeen.com/2013/07/28/movie-be-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/#commentsSun, 28 Jul 2013 13:00:55 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=339057Architect Alison Brooks talks about how residents come together in the streets of her firm's Be housing project in Essex, UK, in this movie produced by Living Projects. Alison Brooks Architects designed 85 homes in a variety of typologies as part of Newhall masterplan on the eastern edge of the Essex town of Harlow. Nominated

"We were able to achieve narrower urban blocks, because they're back to back and they're terraced, and a denser overall masterplan," Brooks says.

Keeping to the original masterplan, terraces create east-west streets and detached dwellings line north-south avenues, with apartment blocks at the corners of the site.

For the terraced houses, the firm cut courtyards and front gardens into each square plan. "We were able to develop a T-shaped plan, which means you enter the house at the centre and that central hole is the hub of the house," says Brooks.

She also explains that the apartment blocks connect the scheme together: "They help the masterplan turn the corners in a slightly softer, more organic manner."

Finally, she comments on how residents use the outdoor spaces to socialise. "They use the streets for street parties in the summer," Brooks says. "Everybody opens up their kitchens on to their front courtyard... the street itself becomes a big party room, and that I think is a big achievement." Read more about the project in our earlier post.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2013/07/28/movie-be-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/feed/5South Chase housing by Alison Brooks Architectshttps://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/30/south-chase-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/
https://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/30/south-chase-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/#commentsWed, 30 Jan 2013 08:00:55 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=286806London firm Alison Brooks Architects used dark-stained timber and sloping rooftops to reinterpret the rural architecture of Essex for this suburban housing development (+ slideshow). Entitled South Chase, the 84-residence development is the first phase in the construction of a new neighbourhood on the eastern edge of the town of Harlow and it accommodates a

]]>London firm Alison Brooks Architects used dark-stained timber and sloping rooftops to reinterpret the rural architecture of Essex for this suburban housing development (+ slideshow).

Entitled South Chase, the 84-residence development is the first phase in the construction of a new neighbourhood on the eastern edge of the town of Harlow and it accommodates a variety of housing typologies.

Apartment blocks and stand-alone houses mark the corners and end-plots of four new streets, while rows of terraced houses and courtyard houses are arranged in rows between.

Describing the goals of the development, Alison Brooks told Dezeen she wanted to create "a completely new and more sustainable suburban housing typology where open-plan flexible houses are integrated with outdoor spaces to increase the sense of space and light".

Above: courtyard houses

The architect also emphasised the importance of creating "dedicated working spaces" in each house, adapting to the growing number of people who work from home and "helping to create an economically active suburb". In line with this, each house comes with an accessible loft that can be converted into an office and the larger houses also include a ground-floor study that doubles up as a spare bedroom.

There are 50 houses on the site in total: 14 stand-alone houses, 29 courtyard houses and 7 terraced houses. The T-shaped courtyard houses are designed to offer a new standard in UK housing, with a dense format that makes room for terraces at both ground and first floor levels. Meanwhile, the terraced houses include south-facing front gardens and the L-shaped stand-alone houses have both rear gardens and driveways.

The five accompanying apartment blocks each contain between six and eight homes and are positioned to maximise views.

All buildings feature a prefabricated timber construction, with a materials palette of sandy brickwork, black-stained larch and slate roof tiles.

Alison Brooks Architects designed the masterplan in collaboration with urban designers Studio REAL.

This 84-unit scheme for Linden Homes will complete South Chase, Phase 1 of the award- winning Newhall development in Harlow, Essex. ABA's approach integrates a mix of new and familiar house typologies, prefabricated timber construction and a highly efficient masterplan to maximize living space and flexibility for individual homes. The scheme's geometric and material consistency was inspired by the powerful roof forms and simple materials of Essex's rural buildings. ABA has utilised these geometries to bring light into terraced courtyard houses, allow rooms in the roof, permit oblique views to the landscape beyond the site, and to introduce a sculptural rhythm to the scheme's streetscapes.

The development consists of 84 units across four building types; 5 Apartment buildings containing 6,7 or 8 flats each; 14 Villas; 29 Courtyard Houses and 7 Terraced Houses totalling 84 units, 26% of which are affordable.

Masterplan

ABA's masterplan was developed in conjunction with Studio REAL and responds to the site's Design Code as well as Lot 3's prominent corner location on the South Chase site. Larger scale apartment buildings hold important corner locations to both define north-south streets and frame views to the wider countryside and beyond. 126sm villas line the north south streets and act as bookends to the more densely configured courtyard houses of the east-west lanes.

All housing types incorporate covered front porches; central stair halls; roof terraces; Juliette balconies and cathedral ceilings. Loft spaces either finished as bedrooms or can be retrofitted by homebuyers as workspaces, additional bedrooms or games rooms. Villas and Courtyard houses all have a ground-floor study - ABA consider this additional room as essential for accommodating the electronic media and home working lifestyles of the 21C.

The courtyard houses are a radical reconfiguration of typical long and narrow 5m x 20m terraced house plot to a 9.5mx10.5m plot. This square plot permits a very wide house footprint, T-shaped with courtyard spaces or 'outdoor rooms' that interlock with kitchen/dining and living rooms. A covered front porch creates a important semi-public threshold between the house front door and the street's shared surfaces. Inside, a very generous central hall creates a sense of spaciousness; we consider front halls as important/functional as any other room in the house.

A large 1st floor roof terrace above the kitchen in effect lifts the garden to gain more hours of sunlight. Master bedrooms have cathedral ceilings that follow the roof line, and the 3 bed versions of the house have a generous loft bedroom.

Above: aerial masterplan

Villas

The villas are two-storey, L-shaped in plan to provide a front parking court that also maximizes south facing orientation and views to the street/landscape beyond. Covered front porches with balconies give the houses an open and inviting street presence. Front 'outriggers' contain the study and bedroom above. This and the master bedroom have sloped ceilings that reflect the exterior geometry of the roofs. Central entrance halls lead to an open plan living, kitchen and family room and the study that can double as guest bedroom. Large expanses of glazing that lead onto timber decks draw the garden into the house and create a sense of informal spaciousness. Solar hot water panels are standard on the villas and courtyard houses apartments.

Above: courtyard house plans - click above for larger image

The Terraced Houses - Affordable

The seven terraced houses, of 90sm and 115sm, are set back on their plots to provide south-facing front gardens. Each end of the terrace pulled forward to create and enclosed 'courtyard- like' street. The terraces follow the scheme's principles of central hall, open plan living/dining and generous bedrooms, with a convertible loft space and cathedral ceilings in 1st floor bedrooms. Each house has 5.4 sm of Photovoltaic roof tiling.

Above: courtyard house section - click above for larger image

The Apartments

Five apartment blocks form important urban markers at street junctions, and act as gateways to the development. Each block's slightly angled geometries give the facades a directionality that responds to their orientation, views, and integrates their larger massing with the highly articulated masses and angled roofs of the adjacent houses. Upper floors clad in brick cantilever over the main entrances to provide a sheltered porch - these are expressed as timber clad 'cuts' in the brick volumes. Flats all have generous terraces, French doors and Juliette balconies, all of which increase the sense of space, maximize natural light and provide wonderful views for both affordable and for sale apartments.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/30/south-chase-housing-by-alison-brooks-architects/feed/16Residential Extension by Alison Brooks Architectshttps://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/21/residential-extension-by-alison-brooks-architects/
https://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/21/residential-extension-by-alison-brooks-architects/#commentsSun, 21 Oct 2012 14:46:56 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=256803Alison Brooks Architects has extended a nineteenth century house in north London by adding two tapered volumes that project into the garden (+ slideshow). The first volume wraps around the brick walls at the side and rear of the house to create a small office, while the second volume extends out at the back to increase the size of

]]>Alison Brooks Architects has extended a nineteenth century house in north London by adding two tapered volumes that project into the garden (+ slideshow).

The first volume wraps around the brick walls at the side and rear of the house to create a small office, while the second volume extends out at the back to increase the size of the first floor living room.

"The extensions were designed to draw in light from the sky, embrace the garden, and capture a precise view of the massive walnut tree near the house," explained architect Alison Brooks.

The ends of each block are entirely glazed, while the sides are clad in dark grey Corian panels.

"Each trapezoidal plane of the scheme is either fully glazed or fully solid, there are no punched windows," said Brooks. "Both roof and wall planes are one material. This approach creates an architecture without mass and weight. It is more like the folded surfaces of origami."

Beneath the first floor block, a new wall of glass slides open to link the dining room with a small patio outside.

From here, a concealed door creates a second entrance to the office, which also has a terrace on its roof.

Alison Brooks Architects has extended a nineteenth century house in north London with two tapered volumes that project into the garden.

The first volume wraps around the brick walls at the side and rear of the house to create a home office, while the second volume extends out at the back to increase the size of the first floor living room.

The extensions are part of an overall transformation of a classic Victorian semi-detached villa for a client involved in photography and design.

The extension was designed as a series of large apertures framed and connected by large trapezoidal planes. These openings capture light throughout the day, draw the garden into the house, and frame precise views of a spectacular walnut tree.

Each plane of the scheme is either fully glazed or fully solid, there are no punched windows. This approach creates an architecture without mass and weight. It is more like the folded surfaces of origami. Where the side and rear projections converge, seven surfaces come together at one point.

To achieve the low profile of the ten-sided trapezoidal office extension, ABA lowered the existing basement and excavated a new sunken courtyard to form a street-facing office entrance. This new lower ground floor level connects workspace and house.

On the garden side, the building rests lightly on the ground with undercut walls to avoid the walnut tree’s roots. Inside, the rooflight geometry funnels light into the workspace throughout the day. A roof terrace cuts into one of the roof, generating a light reflecting plane and heightening the sense of suspended surfaces.

The living room’s projecting bay window focusses on the walnut tree like a picture frame. It also pulls light from above into the living room through a segment of its roof. Beneath the bay window a new wall of glass slides open to link the dining room with a small patio outside. From here a concealed door creates a second entrance to the office.

Where the original living room once was, ABA has opened a new double height volume. This space draws south light deep into the house, and like a ‘great hall’, creates a powerful visual connection between the original upper ground floor entrance hall and kitchen/dining space.

The folded geometries of the extensions continue into the house to become surfaces punctuated by steel fireplaces, a cantilevered kitchen and other ‘inhabited walls’; a variety of framed settings for modern family life.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/21/residential-extension-by-alison-brooks-architects/feed/12Exeter College by Alison Brooks Architectshttps://www.dezeen.com/2011/11/26/exeter-college-by-alison-brooks-architects/
https://www.dezeen.com/2011/11/26/exeter-college-by-alison-brooks-architects/#commentsSat, 26 Nov 2011 06:00:06 +0000http://www.dezeen.com/?p=176327British architect Alison Brooks has won a competition to design a new quadrangle for a college at the University of Oxford. The third campus for Exeter College will provide accommodation for 100 students, a lecture hall, classrooms, private study rooms and breakout spaces. The buildings will be arranged into an S-shaped plan and will fold around

Alison Brooks Architects has won the competition to design a `third quad´ for Exeter College at Oxford University. Located a ten minute walk away from the 700-year old Turl Street campus, the project will form Exeter College’s Third Quadrangle in the heart of Oxford. The new building will combine undergraduate and graduate living accommodation for 100 students, a lecture hall, teaching rooms, social spaces and study facilities.

ABA's scheme is organised around two new courtyards, a 19th C and a 21st C Quad, connected by a 3-dimensional Ambulatory. This is a narrative route that connects the College’s public and courtyard spaces with a series of cloisters, amphitheatre staircases, landings and garden walks - places for gathering and scholarly exchange. A multi-level commons space at the centre of the S-shaped plan is the new Quad’s social heart, opening onto both courtyards at various levels.

Click above for larger image

The over-riding concept of a 'scholarly home' is characterised by an all-embracing curved roof, marking the new Quad on Oxford’s skyline while providing unique loft study and living spaces. Alison Brooks Architects was one of five leading architectural practices from the UK and abroad shortlisted for the project, including Eric Parry Architects, Haworth Tompkins, Wright & Wright and Richard Sundberg Architects.